League of Legends – Into the Rift: Ziggs, The Hexplosives Expert

If you’re a mighty Twinfiknight, you might know about our Dota 2 series, Heropedia. Since Dota shouldn’t get to have all the fun, and seeing as I spent 12 hours playing League of Legends yesterday, I figured I would do something similar for LoL. I’ll be regularly outputting some form of helpful info about something LoL related. Could I be more specific? Nope, because I’m foreseeing random urges to talk about a variety of League things and who knows where my wisdom will take me.

This time, I’ll talk a little about a champion who’s seeing a lot of successful play in ranked queues and professional leagues. He’s the hexplosives expert, Ziggs. This bomb-weilding yordle is my favorite champion to play right now, because you can’t go wrong with a ranged, high damage, low cooldown push monster with great poke and a semi-global ult; he’s pretty much good at everything.

Abilities

[Passive]Short Fuse – Every 12 seconds, Ziggs’ next basic attack deals bonus magic damage. When you use an ability, the cooldown for Short Fuse is reduced by 4 seconds. The extra damage scales on Ability Power, and does 50% bonus damage to enemy structures. His passive is great for taking objectives, last-hitting minions, and harassing the enemy in lane. Try to open engages with it, because, after using 3 abilities, Short Fuse will be available again to close your combo.

[Q] Bouncing Bomb – Ziggs throws a bomb that bounces three times before exploding, doing AoE magic damage. If the bomb lands on a target, it will explode instead of bounce. This ability is super fun when you get a hang of the bounce trajectories. It’s your main tool for poking and farming, and you should max it early.

[W] Satchel Charge – Ziggs throws an explosive charge that blows up after 4 seconds or if you re-activate it sooner than that. Upon detonation, the charge deals a small amount of magic damage and knocks enemies, or Ziggs, into the air. Use this ability to jump to safety, knock away enemies, initiate fights, and acrobatically jump over walls. Pay close attention to where on the charge Ziggs or an enemy is standing, because their placement determines how far, and in which direction, they’ll fly.

[E] Hexplosive Minefield – Ziggs throws 11 mines that slow and deal magic damage to an enemy on contact. Enemies take less damage the more mines they walk into. This is a great zoning tool, and the slow can help you land other abilities on the target.

[R] Mega Inferno Bomb – This is your ultimate. It’s awesome, because it launches a jumbo bomb that deals massive magic damage to everyone in the area. It’s got a large range, but be aware that it will take longer to reach its mark the farther you throw it. It also does the most damage to targets near the center, while targets farther out take only 80% damage. It’s really important to get familiar with the varying launch times on this ability, so that you can use it to help teammates, steal objectives, and finish up kills.

Itemization

I don’t want to give a straight-up item guide, because you can honestly build champions however you want. Here are some personal suggestions, but, of course, the most satisfying builds come from innovating and exploring item-building on your own.

Ziggs is typically played as an AP carry in the mid lane. That being said, it can be fun to toss the meta out the window. I’ve played him as support, top, and even marksman (not quite ready to take that mind-blowing strategy into ranked, though).

The in-game suggested build recommends a Scrying Orb trinket, most likely for landing an ult on a hidden, low health target or objective. Early in the game though, I’d rather grab a Warding Totem to keep the river or wraiths warded so I can see a gank coming or spot the enemy mid roaming. If you want to trade in your yellow trinket for blue on the 2nd or 3rd trip to base, though, you may be able to make some good use of it.

Ziggs is of most use to his team when he’s got a good mana supply. If you don’t invest in mana in some way (be it a Chalice of Harmony, Rod of Ages, or extra mana potions), you won’t be able to wave clear or harass the enemy to the extent your team needs you to.

Don’t forget boots. People sometimes forget about grabbing Sorcerer’s Shoes on casters, but 15 magic penetration is effective, and there’s no need to be snail crawling across the map. They’ll also help you get into range faster to ult dragon or another lane.

If the enemy has crazy gap closers or a mobile assassin team (Vi, Leblanc, etc) then a Zhonya’s Hourglass might save your furry butt a few times. If you’re ahead, have good peel, or are feeling pretty untouchable, go for Rabadon’s Deathcap and be a monster.

I’ll pick up a Liandry’s Torment if the enemy team is getting tanky (with a lot of health) so I can burn them down with poke.

Lich Bane always feels like a risky buy. I don’t like to be in auto-attack range unless my team is ahead or capable of protecting me. It’s a nice buy mid to late game if your team needs help taking structures. Usually, I just like to finish a Rabadon’s/Void Staff first, and let my ult do the talking.

Such a charmer.

Tips

Around 6:35, I ward the enemy blue buff. If the enemy jungler started blue at 1:55, they’ll be back to grab the second one around 7:10. If the jungler started red, it’ll respawn a little later than that, so you can put a ward up a little later to catch them. When the buff respawns and the enemy is taking it, a well-timed ult will net you a free blue and a mana-starved enemy.

Ult bot. Do it a lot. Just take 5 seconds to walk halfway down river, ping for an engage, and ult. You’ll help pressure bot lane and could pick up a couple of profitable assists.

You can cast spells while in a Satchel Charge jump.

If you’re against a pain in the ass like Zed or Leblanc, you’re not going to outright win lane unless they’re playing below par. More often than not, you’ll just want to push the lane, and push it hard to keep the enemy from roaming and picking up kills.

Use Satchel Charge to knock people into your turret, it’s hilarious.

How you farm is a good indicator of your strength. If you can’t kill the caster minions after 10 minutes with one Bouncing Bomb, then farm up because you’re behind.

Ult large minion waves in pushed lanes to grab farm and prevent damage to your turrets. It has a pretty low cooldown that’s likely to be up before the next team fight.